SME Response Clinic – Supporting Rwandan Entrepreneurs during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic

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Year: 2020

The SME Response Clinic was created during the COVID-19 pandemic to address a critical challenge facing entrepreneurs in Rwanda: access to timely, reliable information. As the crisis unfolded, guidance and support for small businesses were scattered across institutions and channels. Entrepreneurs needed a single, trusted place to understand what support existed, how to comply with changing measures, and how to navigate recovery.

Developed and implemented by ConsumerCentriX in partnership with Access to Finance Rwanda, the SME Response Clinic launched in May 2020 as a digital platform to consolidate this information into one accessible resource. The platform brought together funding opportunities, access to loans, business development support, government policies, and ecosystem trends affecting entrepreneurs, helping them make informed decisions during a period of rapid change.

Accessibility was central to the platform’s design. Content was published in both English and Kinyarwanda to reach a broad base of micro and small businesses. Over time, the Clinic expanded beyond static information to include guides, curated resources, and learning opportunities that supported both short-term survival and longer-term resilience.

Alongside information sharing, the SME Response Clinic supported targeted activities and campaigns. In partnership with ecosystem actors including the African Management Institute, the platform hosted trainings to strengthen business skills during the crisis. It also delivered a national campaign, Twiteze Imbere (Let’s Move Forward Together), which recognised the role of small businesses in Rwanda’s COVID-19 recovery. Implemented with partners such as the Private Sector Federation, the Association of Microfinance Institutions in Rwanda, New Faces New Voices Rwanda, and the Rwanda Bankers’ Association, the campaign celebrated entrepreneurial resilience and linked business owners to advisory support and training opportunities.

The platform also addressed the less visible impacts of the pandemic on entrepreneurs. Through the Building Back Healthier series, the SME Response Clinic focused on wellbeing and mental health, recognising the pressures business owners faced during COVID-19. The series included a radio discussion hosted on KT Radio that brought together psychologists from the Geruka Healing Center and entrepreneurs to share practical insights on self-care, resilience, and available support services. By combining expert perspectives with lived experiences from entrepreneurs, the initiative helped raise awareness of mental health challenges, encouraged peer learning, and promoted wellbeing as a core component of business resilience.

Partnerships with financial institutions further strengthened the platform’s relevance. KCB Bank hosted the website at one stage, followed by engagement with BPR Bank Rwanda, helping connect entrepreneurs directly to financial products at a time when access to finance was constrained.

In terms of reach, the SME Response Clinic engaged entrepreneurs at scale. The platform recorded more than 140,600 page views and over 100,000 website visitors. Combined with social media outreach and in-person activities, the initiative reached approximately 6.7 million unique users, with a significant share being women entrepreneurs.

The SME Response Clinic continues to function as a maintained digital resource. The website is still updated with information on funding and business development opportunities, as well as government policies and trends affecting entrepreneurs in Rwanda. The Clinic demonstrates how a targeted digital platform can support entrepreneurs during crisis and recovery, while creating infrastructure that remains useful beyond its original mandate.